For all of Jehovah's Witnesses faults, I have to side with Proplog on this one. They are hypocritical for their harsh judgmentalism, but their neutrality in times of war is most commendable. Its one of the few things I think JW's should be given a bit of credit for, no matter how much you despise them.
Attempts to justify Christians killing during wartime are always very weak. They always resort a lot of tenuous scriptural arguments and rationalisations.
If you want to undermine JW's claim to being the true religion through their not going to war, then do so by positive arguments, eg, there are many Christian individuals and a few other smaller denominations that refused to take up arms also. But arguments that try and justify war are obscene.
yaddayadda
JoinedPosts by yaddayadda
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Article - Does the Witness stance on WAR prove they are the true religion?
by jwfacts inmany jws believe they are the only religion that doesn't go to war and hence the only true religion.
i am working on an article at http://jwfacts.com/index_files/war.htm to show that this is not valid reasoning, and would love any comments.
despite being neutral in war, jehovah's witnesses are not pacifists.
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yaddayadda
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Table of who???
by Core88 inhi everyone here is something i think is wrongly translated in the nw bible, and it bothers me.
you cannot be drinking the cup of jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of the table of jehovah and the table of demons.1 cor.
10:21, nw.
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yaddayadda
Very good research!
"The more I really look at the New Testament the more clearly it becomes that the writers where more or less teaching that Jesus is God"
Not at all. The synoptic gospels in particular give no evidence for such a conclusion. The NT writers are, however, clearly of the view that Jesus is God's divine son and is worthy of worship and reverence of a type similar to that which was formerly exclusively given to the one God, Jehovah. The earliest form of Christianity was strictly monotheistic - but it took on a binitarian shape through accommodating worship (of a sort) of Jesus along with God the Father. It does not mean that Jesus has eclipsed his heavenly Father (God) or that God has suddenly metamorphasied into three persons; rather, it means that Jesus can be given worshipful reverence, not as God, but as the majestic Lord of all creation who is now sitting alongside God. -
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Is the GB "Christ"?
by Doug Mason inwhere in scripture does the gb get the idea of being anointed?
jesus warned his disciples to watch out for the deceivers (matt 24: 4) who would falsely point to wars, famines, and earthquakes (verses 6 and 7) as the sign of the end of the age (verse 3).
at the same time, jesus told his disciples that these deceivers would claim to be christ (verse 5), which means anointed one.
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yaddayadda
It is quite disturbing that it seems likely that this old 'mystery' teaching is about to be revived at the 2007 DCs. It should be an alarm signal to those few JW's remaining that actually pay close attention to what Jesus said. Specifically Matthew 24: 23-26:
"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look! Here is the Christ,' or, 'There!' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones. Look! I have forewarned you. Therefore, if people say to you, 'Look! He is in the wilderness,' do not go out; 'Look! He is in the inner chambers,' do not believe it."
JW's should have a very serious think about Jesus' words here if the proclamation is about to be made that the GB and the 'faithful slave' are 'the Christ' together with Jesus. -
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Talk on Apostates
by IslandBrother inhave you ever walked on the beach and tried following another persons footprints; matching your own steps with them as exactly as possible?
by calling ourselves christians, we have indicated our desire to do just that, to follow closely in the footsteps of christ.
have you ever noticed though that on a crowded beach, , there were several sets of footprints, many of them may look alike.
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yaddayadda
Charles Taze Russell would be summarily disfellowshipped for apostasy if he was a JW today.
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New Jerusalem 607 B.C.E. web Site
by jdough inthere is a new web site devoted to the false claim by jehovah's witnesses that jerusalem was destroyed in 607 b.c.e.
please feel free to link to the site.
http://www.geocities.com/jerusalem607/
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yaddayadda
All creeds that hinge on the 607 chronology would have to go, or be completely reinterpreted. This would seriously undermine the WTS's claim to have been appointed by Christ over all his 'belongings' in 1918-19.
Although it would damage the Society's authority, such a change would not affect one iota the Society's core doctrines (no trinity, no immortal soul, resurrection of the dead back to earth, 1000 reign over a paradise earth, etc). All JW's are utterly convinced of these doctrines, and so most would remain loyal to the organisation no matter what happened re their 1914 chronology.
This is the real 'concept' that keeps JW's loyal to the WTS, ie, the 'concept' that only they can be the true religion because only they teach genuine, primitive, unadulterated true Christianity that is free from Babylonish false doctrines. -
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Will the change to the Watchtower be followed by a change to the meetings?
by yaddayadda ini expect that a significant change to the meetings is on the horizon, most probably in the form of a shift of the bookstudy from a weeknight to a condensed saturday morning version.
some congregations already hold bookstudy groups on saturday mornings.
a universal change to this for the whole organisation make senses as it would help resolve a number of growing problems for the society, specifically, meeting attendance is clearly diminishing at the rate of knots in the western world, many elders are burning out and resigning because they cannot cope with all the pressure heaped up on them that so many meetings in no small measure contributes towards, and magazine 'sales' are apparently down and such a change would work in very well with the upcoming new change to the watchtower magazine in january 2008. .
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yaddayadda
Please read my posts again. I'm predicting a foreseeable SHIFT in the day/time for the bookstudy, not an elimination of it.
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Will the change to the Watchtower be followed by a change to the meetings?
by yaddayadda ini expect that a significant change to the meetings is on the horizon, most probably in the form of a shift of the bookstudy from a weeknight to a condensed saturday morning version.
some congregations already hold bookstudy groups on saturday mornings.
a universal change to this for the whole organisation make senses as it would help resolve a number of growing problems for the society, specifically, meeting attendance is clearly diminishing at the rate of knots in the western world, many elders are burning out and resigning because they cannot cope with all the pressure heaped up on them that so many meetings in no small measure contributes towards, and magazine 'sales' are apparently down and such a change would work in very well with the upcoming new change to the watchtower magazine in january 2008. .
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yaddayadda
Gill, I'm not suggesting they will cut out a meeting, rather that they will simply shift the bookstudy to Saturday morning. That way they can avoid any suggestion that they are providing less spiritual food.
Willyman, that quote by Ray Franz about one of the GB saying that the publishers will only use the extra time to 'watch tv' is an old quote, going way back to the 1970's. Any slackers who might be inclined to do this can simply be encouraged to do more 'personal study'. The Society could stimulate more personal study and self-sufficiency by the rank and file through, say, scrapping the currently pathetic 'days text' and replacing it with a much better, comprehensive version that encourages the JW to read, say, a whole chapter of the bible every day augmented by a much fuller scriptural discussion instead.
That is, by the way, another prediction of mine: a complete overhaul of the 'days text'.
Yes, this has obviously been mentioned numerous times in the past, but I am speaking of it specifically in the context of the relatively recent developments of decreasing publisher stats in the western world, decreasing meeting attendance, increasing elder burn-out, and has become very apparent through the recent changes to the Awake and future change to the Watchtower, the cashflow/costs problems the Society is increasingly experiencing.
As Gill has enumerated, the Society HAS made many changes before, although nothing particularly 'revolutionary' as you say. But shifting the bookstudy to a Saturday morning is hardly 'revolutionary'. It would be mere arrangement rejigging that has obvious flow-on benefits. -
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Will the change to the Watchtower be followed by a change to the meetings?
by yaddayadda ini expect that a significant change to the meetings is on the horizon, most probably in the form of a shift of the bookstudy from a weeknight to a condensed saturday morning version.
some congregations already hold bookstudy groups on saturday mornings.
a universal change to this for the whole organisation make senses as it would help resolve a number of growing problems for the society, specifically, meeting attendance is clearly diminishing at the rate of knots in the western world, many elders are burning out and resigning because they cannot cope with all the pressure heaped up on them that so many meetings in no small measure contributes towards, and magazine 'sales' are apparently down and such a change would work in very well with the upcoming new change to the watchtower magazine in january 2008. .
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yaddayadda
I expect that a significant change to the meetings is on the horizon, most probably in the form of a shift of the bookstudy from a weeknight to a condensed Saturday morning version. Some congregations already hold bookstudy groups on Saturday mornings. A universal change to this for the whole organisation make senses as it would help resolve a number of growing problems for the Society, specifically, meeting attendance is clearly diminishing at the rate of knots in the Western world, many elders are burning out and resigning because they cannot cope with all the pressure heaped up on them that so many meetings in no small measure contributes towards, and magazine 'sales' are apparently down and such a change would work in very well with the upcoming new change to the Watchtower magazine in January 2008.
The Society is under increasing pressure to do something to boost flagging meeting attendance and to ease the burden on the elders. The Society is fully aware that the elders carry a heavy load, something starkly admitted in the 1st April 2007 Watchtower. No doubt the GB is bugged by increasing reports from the worldwide Branches of elders burning out. Historically the Society has declined to do anything realistic about this problem but this can't go on for much longer. The Society is evidently struggling with the issue of what to do about losing more and more senior 'family men' type elders that are being replaced by increasingly younger, single, MS school graduate, pioneering type elders.
By removing the burden of having to drag the family to the bookstudy on a weeknight through combining the bookstudy with Saturday morning FS, the Society can claim to be addressing these problems. It would kill a number of birds with one stone. Firstly, The Society can say that it is trying to make the load a little less 'heavy' for elders and families by eliminating the need to attend two weeknight meetings. Meeting attendance may also be bolstered from shifting the bookstudy to Saturday morning since partificipation at the remaining weeknight meeting (the Theocratic Misery School and Service Meeting) is likely to increase. The rank and file will be more inclined to get off their chuffs to attend the TMS and SM instead of opting to sacrifice one weeknight meeting for the other, especially during winter. The TMS and SM would logically be moved to a Wednesday night. This would also have the benefit of JWs having more time for 'personal study' and bible reading. The Society is accused by outsiders of squashing desire for genuine 'personal study' and bible reading because there of so much emphasis on and time spent in relation to the meetings.
Furthermore, as we know, there is tremendous psychological pressure (peer pressure) on JW's to attend EVERY meeting. Not attending all the meetings usually results in being treated more coldly, even being 'marked', by some in the congregation. Shifting the bookstudy to a Saturday morning, before field service, may put pressure on the slackers to get out on FS more, even if only for one hour. It may therefore have a reinvigorating effect on such slacker/inactive ones. The new version bookstudy could be a half-hour to 40 minute version to be immediately followed by magazine presentation demonstrations before everyone heads out into the 'magazine work'. This would most probably boost the Saturday morning 'magazine work' activity.
It would make completely sense for the Society to bring in such a change in 2008 to coincide with the renewed emphasis on offering magazines that will undoubtedly accompany the change to the Watchtower in January 2008.
You heard it from me first. -
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CONFIRMATION new watchtower mag arrangement
by yesidid init was announced at the service meeting.
so it's definately a goer.
starting jan 2008. .
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yaddayadda
We are now definitely seeing a general contraction of operations by the WTS, all resulting from the general decline in the western world of the JW preaching activity and publisher stats. Stats are down in much of the western world and it is most unlikely to reverse. Thus the money is just not coming in anymore and printing so many magazines that no one wants to offer on the doors or read cannot be justified any longer.
The change makes complete sense for a number of reasons, and as I mentioned a few days ago, it is a wonder they havn't done it sooner. It makes sense financially, it makes sense for the rank and file, and it makes sense for the consuming public. It make sense financially for the simple reason that instead of 2 printing runs of the the Watchtower at so many tens of millions each printing run, this has been slashed to 1 printing one for the 'public' version with an additional, much smaller printing run of the 'study' version for a few million dubbies. The cost-savings are obvious. It makes sense for the publishers for a number of reasons: enthusiasm for offering the Watchtower on the doors has been low for many years on the part of the publishers because the strictly religious and more esoterical/specialised content of the Watchtower is not catered to today's increasingly secularized society and much of the content is pitched strictly at JW's via the study articles, so a Watchtower that offers more basic spiritual 'food' to the public, discussing more simple bible 'truths' is going to make the door-to-door work easier for the dubs; the publishers can now focus their energies on prepararing magazine presentations for just two magazines a month now, instead of four (this will simplify some Service Meeting parts also). It makes sense for the interested public also, since they will no longer have to read all the 'weird' study articles and can read more about basic teachings of the Watchtower Society - expect the new 'public' Watchtower version to contain a lot more on subjects such as the condition of the dead, etc.
On this basis, I think it is clearly only a matter of time, as has been predicted, until the Awake magazine disappears altogether. But it will likely not happen for a number of years yet, probably at least five. There seems little justification for continuing with the Awake (with its utterly trivial articles on such things as dog grooming, how soap is made, on animals and plants, Japanese cuisine and crap like this) if the new 'public' version of the Watchtower is going to emphasize more basic bible teachings to the public. The Awake is nothing but a pseudo Readers Digest and is obviously a complete waste of time and money (some would say that about every JW publication LOL).
I confidently predict that the next big change on the horizon will be a significant change to the meetings, most probably a shift of the bookstudy from week nights to a Saturday morning condensed version. This change will come because weeknight meeting attendance is clearly diminishing at the rate of knots in the Western world.
As we know, there is tremendous psychological pressure (peer pressure) on JW's to attend EVERY meeting. Shifting the bookstudy to a Saturday morning, before field service, may put pressure on the slackers to get out on FS more, even if only for one hour. The new version bookstudy would be a half-hour to 40 minute version (no reading of paragraphs) to be followed by magazine presentation demonstrations before everyone heads out into the 'magazine work'. This would most probably boost the Saturday morning 'magazine work' activity. It would make sense for the Society to bring in such a change in 2008 to coincide with the renewed emphasis on offering magazines that will accompany the change to the Watchtower in January 2008.
You heard it from me first. -
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new watchtower mag arrangement
by shadowofbathory inthe latest from brooklyn ( my mate in upper management ) i thought id share.. .
the watchtower is remaining bi monthly.
instead of both monthly offerings sharing same formats there is a change coming into action soon.
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yaddayadda
a) Public Image - Hiding the more extreme doctrines from the public
b) Information Control - Keeping information containted to the loyal few
c) Cost - Less magazines to print since one edition will be only for the 'faithful' (like the KM)
I think Drew Sagan hit in on the head as quoted above. But I would put the order of priority as C, A, B.
It's interesting to see how these things happen in waves. First the change to the Awake from bi-monthly to monthly; now this upcoming change to the Watchtower. Seems they did a test run with the Awake first.
The wonder of it is that they didn't do this years ago.
This will induce a little wave of excitement in the rank and file and will probably keep the publisher stats up for 2007.